My auntie's husband was born in a very rural community in the south of Brazil. His first words were in German, he was raised in a very German family and learned to speak Portuguese in school. This fact had a huge influence on his life. We have different political views. He used to say to me "when I was younger my grandfather taught me this, but I refuse to accepted and now I know this is true" what his grandpa taught him? He taught that Jewish people rule the world and that the only way to change the world is with war and revolution. I try to convince him of how Hitler used this against Jewish or how anarchist that sounds, but he never changed his mind. I am the younger and He's old and reasonable (at least in his mind). He's a nice guy, but he never changes his mind.
Hi Reynold. How interesting! I have lots of thoughts and questions after reading this, but I will just ask one question. Is it common today for people of German ancestry in southern Brazil to identify strongly with their German heritage? I don't mean discrimination against Jewish people like you wrote about in your essay, but just German culture and language in general. Or, is it only elderly people who grew up speaking German? I guess that was more than one question. I hope they're not too complicated. Your English skills seem very good, but if what I'm asking isn't clear, feel free to ignore :)
Hi Erin! Over the past few years, it's almost impossible to see any families speaking exclusively in German, most of the youngers don't speak anymore. In the end, the Portuguese won. This can be explained by urbanization and political changes. However, these families have a very unique identity. Maybe this is the new role for German culture, be part of something new. Currently, they identified themselves as southerner Brazilians but proud of their German heritage. Let me know if have any weird phrases :)